As someone who gave a rat’s ass about what happened in Shadow and Bone, I surprisingly liked the Netflix adaptation maybe a tad bit better than the books (at least in regards to Alina’s arc). But since it’s just the first season, it’s hard to say since I did like the first book the most – it’s only until books two and three that I didn’t care what happened to the characters. (Although in the grand scheme of things, it unfortunately isn’t a favorite series.)
Shadow and Bone is the adaptation of the Grishaverse series by Leigh Bardugo, based on the first book, Shadow and Bone, and to an extent, a little of Six of Crows. (To be exact, it’s a prequel to the duology rather than diving directly into the content.) And as much as the series isn’t one of my all-time favorite book series, I still highly enjoyed Six of Crows when I first read it. At the very least, I wanted to see one of my favorite crews be brought to life and in action.
My biggest worry walking into watching the show was the two books getting smushed together, but much of the focus is based off the first book in the main trilogy when we meet Mal (Archie Renaux) and Alina (Jessie Mei Li) working as part of the first army, and Alina discovering she’s the Sun Summoner during a moment of distress in the Fold. Great things come in moments in distress.
Knowing she’s now a walking myth come to life, she then gets shuffled off quickly to the Little Palace, where she gets the crash training course of being Grisha. All of a sudden, Alina’s not just an orphan, she’s now a Saint with a lot of expectation (and hope) for her eradicate the Fold that started from the Black Heretic. With Mal not a Grisha, the two childhood friends who grew up in an orphanage together are now separated and she’s all alone with a target on her back and everyone wanting a piece of her sunshine powers, including General Kirigan (Ben Barnes).
In a way, there are three storylines in the TV show that seamlessly come together – Mal and Alina; Kaz (Freddy Carter), Inej (Amita Suman) and Jesper (Kit Young); and Nina (Danielle Galligan) and Matthias (Calahan Skogman). For someone who hasn’t read both the Shadow and Bone trilogy and Six of Crows at the very least, the three storylines might not even make sense (at least until the last episode), because what will eventually form most of the Crows are references touched upon in the first book. As I’m someone who has read them, I can’t say if I would’ve been confused without the background knowledge from the books, even if it’s been years since I read Shadow and Bone. But I think even without the background knowledge from the books, newcomers to the universe and non-readers will be in decent hands by the final episode.
The acting was on par with the characters in the books and there’s no obvious awkwardness that sometimes comes with the first few episodes of a show before they get used to their roles. I personally liked the show version of Alina and Mal compared to the books, as I felt indifferent toward the book versions of them and wouldn’t have noticed if they got swallowed completely by the Fold. But I absolutely adored the Crows as much as I loved them from the books with their banter as they go on their latest heist to retrieve the Sun Summoner for a million Kruge.
My biggest (and really only) issue is the anti-Asian racism throughout, which while it was uncomfortable, also felt completely unnecessary and shoehorned in. The comments to Alina about making her less Shu due to her eyes, calling her a rice eater and half-breed, and the poster with the caricature in the background in the first episodes – none of that was needed to keep the story going. It’s blatantly obvious this was written for a white audience, and in times where anti-Asian racism is already high in reality, we really don’t need it blatantly shoved in faces in entertainment where our trauma growing up is brought back to life for no reason other than for it being there.
Considering this is the first season, it’ll be too early for me to say it’s completely unnecessary; it’s possible there’s an entire reason for the anti-Asian racism and it’ll actually be addressed in the second season when it releases. But for now, just based on the eight episodes of the first season, it’s just not needed. And even it was going to get addressed, the show would’ve been completely fine without it in the first place.
I think the show could’ve been a lot stronger and better with more episodes, which could’ve given the show an opportunity to flesh things out more, but unfortunately, that’s up to the powers that be at Netflix. Overall, though, the Netflix adaptation of Shadow and Bone was a solid adaptation for fans of the series and stands alone well for those who have not yet read the books.
Sophia started blogging in February 2012 for the hell of it and is surprisingly still around. She has a GIF for nearly everything, probably listens to too much K-Pop and is generally in an existential crisis of sorts (she's trying her best). More of her bookish reviews and K-Pop Roundups can be found at The Arts STL.
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Ah this is the show I am most hesitant to watch at the moment. I remember liking the first book a lot (enough to buy the rest of the series as they released) but for the life of me I don’t remember why I never picked up and actually read the rest of them. Plus I DNF’d Six of Crows and after that I could never get myself to read the rest of Bardugo’s works.
I’m glad you enjoyed the series though! Big yikes to the anti-Asian commentary though which I think is never needed but fingers crossed its addressed and justified in the second season! I might just YOLO at some point this year and give in to temptation and watch it!
I completely agree with everything you said here, especially the unnecessary anti-Asian sentiments. It’s a fantasy show, we could have done without the Asian coded racist undertones and just showed antagonism between the Shus and Ravkans.
I also felt like though Ben Barnes did an amazing job of portraying the Darkling, his portrayal in the show wasn’t quite the same as his portrayal in the books. In the books, you love the Darkling because he is cold, and mysterious and impossible to get close to. But in the series he seemed much warmer and approachable. Not exactly complaining cause I also loved Ben Barnes as The Darkling, just felt like it was not the same Darkling we had read about in the books.